Hermitage of the Transfiguration.

Returning from a cycle ride yesterday, I bumped into Brother John; I've known him for many years but without knowing much about him.

He was a member of a religious community living in this tin shack, formerly the local Miners' Institute Hall which was saved from demolition by a local benefactor. John  is the "last man standing" from the community and recently moved down the road to Loanhead where he now lives in the house of a Sister (now deceased, but who was also a member of the commune).

Both John and Father Roland were Anglicans who, in turn, served as "priests in charge" of Rosslyn Chapel fifty years ago although Roland later converted to Catholicism. They, and several others set up the experimental community calling it the Hermitage of the Transfiguration but later changing it to the Houses of the Transfiguration, the houses being garden sheds just large enough to take a bed. These quiet, friendly people remained a quaint part of the village life until Roland died four years ago, the shack will go up for sale in a few weeks time and will, no doubt, be replaced by a block of flats or a luxury bungalow.